The History Of The Microwave Oven

A microwave oven can be used for cooking, baking, boiling water and also heating food cooked earlier. It is one of the most versatile household article and a truly great invention. Let us take a look at the man who invented this magnificent apparatus and how he went about putting together his ideas.

Just as is true with any other type of invention, the microwave has roots that go back several decades in the past. To wit, while conducting a RADAR research project in 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer, an engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, noticed that as he was performing tests on a new vacuum tube called a magnetron, a candy bar he had in his pocket completely melted.

Surprised by the incident, he decided to conduct a few more tests. He placed popcorn kernels near the tube and within a few seconds, saw the popcorn popping all over his laboratory.

In yet another experiment, he placed an egg near the magnetron tube and asked another colleague to witness what happened with him. The egg, reacting to the application of extreme pressure, began to tremble. The temperature inside the egg caused the egg to explode, sending yoke all over the lab.

Due to extreme pressure the egg began to shake. The heat inside the egg rose so much that it exploded. The yolk was scattered all over his colleagues face. Thus they realized that other food articles can be cooked using low density microwave energy.

After this, Dr. Spencer created a metal box and connected it to the microwave source. The result was that there was an enclosed space from where the energy could not escape. Then Dr. Spencer put some food inside the box and the temperature rose quickly and the food was cooked. Hence this was the first time ever when microwave energy was used to cook food.

Further, the food engineers worked on this technology to develop the idea further. In 1946, a company called Raytheon filed a patent for using microwave to cook food. Thus , similar to what Dr. Spencer had created, the redeveloped product was first put in Boston restaurant for testing and it was a huge success.

Then, in 1947, the first microwave oven was commercially created . Initial units were huge of about six feet and was seven fifty pounds in weight. They were priced exorbitantly at 50 00 dollars each. But still it was nothing as compared to the great use that it had. At that time some kind of plumbing material was used to cool the oven.

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